


cat daddy (no, literally)

by watername



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M, Mentioned Choi Minho, Mentioned Kim Jonghyun, Mentioned Lee Taemin, Minor Kim Jonghyun/Lee Taemin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-04-20 12:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14261229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watername/pseuds/watername
Summary: "So your vet is hot, huh?" Taemin asks.(jinki does not have a crush on his cat's new vet. kibum does not have a crush on a patient's dad. these are Such Lies.)





	1. Friday and Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So your vet is hot, huh?" Taemin asks.

It's a Friday night, and Kibum smells like an abscess. 

"Hi, um. I think my cat is sick," a quiet voice from the lobby says.

He hears it only in passing, stripping off his gloves as he walks. The band-aid on his left hand is pulled uncomfortably at the removal, a memento from a cranky Yorkshire that didn't like the smell of his skincare routine. It's a nuisance, pulling at his skin whenever he flexes his hand, so he yanks it off; he grimaces as he tries to spy through the hinge of the lobby door. The clock behind him ticks away, and if he can just avoid this one patient, then he can call it a night successfully.

It's already ten to 6; there's a bus at 6:05; and it'll take him four minutes to pack up and three minutes to get to the stop down the street, so if he can make it to the locker room, then he's free.

The fact that he's not moving into action is something that crosses his tired, frustrated mind too late, the exact moment when the door swings open. 

Minho sits in his rolly chair, grinning, one long leg extended to keep the door open. The unseen pet parent is likely attributing his sunny disposition to genuine customer service. Kibum knows it's glee at having clearly caught him sneaking out. 

"Consultation in room 3, Doctor Kim," he says, walking his fingers along the arm of his chair, freezing, and then turning them around with a distinct, dejected slump to his wrist. 

He nods as evenly as possible while exposed, but immediately lets his face fall into disgruntlement when Minho scoots backwards and releases the door to shut. He tries to calculate the likelihood that this patient will end up damaging his person too as he scrubs up. 

Judging by the yowl (followed by a soft, indiscernible murmur of admonition) that's coming from room 3, he generously gives the odds as 2 to 1. 

* * *

"It's not that bad," Jinki says in a very reasonable, level tone.

The occupant of the carrier looks back at him. 

"It'll be over quick," he promises. He tugs his sleeves over his hands and reaches in, prompting a loud, angry whine just as the door opens. 

"Good evening, Mr. Lee and..." perfectly formed eyebrows arch up, with a hint of question in the dark eyes below, and Jinki can't help but fidget. "Joyonghan?"

The cat in question, perhaps sensing Jinki's nerves, yowls crankily in affirmation. 

The doctor - Kim, going by the nametag clipped just above his pocket - smiles slightly. 

"I'll take that as a yes. Is he okay to come out?" he asks, looking expectantly at the carrier. Jinki nods quickly and pulls again at the material of his shirt over the backs of his hands protectively to reach in.  

Joyonghan hisses and bats at him. 

 _Stop it_ , Jinki makes a go of telepathy, because there's always a chance.  _You're embarrassing us both and you know this is for your own good_. 

The telepathy fails resoundingly - or it works, but Joyonghan rejects his offer, Jinki considers them both equally likely - but he succeeds in extracting the upset cat regardless, his claws bared and batting in the distance Jinki's careful to leave open. 

Doctor Kim looks slightly resigned as Jinki places him on the table, but he hopes a wide smile can help make up for the ground Joyonghan's already lost him. 

* * *

Kibum presents himself as someone who appreciates all animals, domesticated and otherwise, and it is the honest truth. Otherwise, he would never have gone to veterinary school.

But this cat - a neutered adult male Scottish fold, with a black and orange tortoiseshell pattern of fur - is eyeballing him like he wants him dead, or at least mildly damaged. He blinks slowly and gazes around the room, as though calculating how much damage he can cause and lets out a prolonged, unhappy mrow. 

The primary question on Kibum's mind is how this cat, with that noise, got a name that meant "quiet". 

Judging by the smile on his owner's face, he has an inkling it's meant to be funny. 

Keeping a neutral expression on his face in contrast, he looks over the cat with a critical, searching eye. He turns to the owner after finishing, trying to project mild curiosity, instead of impatience.  

"What brings you two in tonight?"

The other man's expression turns from slightly anxious and soft, to anxious with a sharper edge of awkwardness, and reaches inside the carrier to extract a clear ziploc. 

In Kibum's experience, it takes a special kind of person to pay attention their pet's stool enough to tell it's abnormal. It's something else entirely to stow said example up carefully in a sealable bag, and then label it - " _Joyonghan, 9/4 - 9AM_ ". To be frank, he's more impressed than anything and an appreciative, quiet laugh escapes him as he extends his hand. 

Mr. Lee is careful with it pinched between his fingers, letting Kibum take it when he's ready instead of just slapping it towards him. He has had too many fluids dripped, spewed, and - on one memorable occasion, actively thrown - at or on his person to be too squeamish, but the gesture, for Kibum, says a lot about a person. Like how they would treat waitstaff, it's an unexpected courtesy that he would normally encourage. In this particular set of circumstances, it's actively charming. 

"That's very thorough of you," he comments, placing the baggie on the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Mr. Lee visibly relax. Joyonghan, too, has calmed down enough to only be eyeing Kibum suspiciously, so he lets his hand fall closer to his head in a cautious test of boundaries as he leans back against the table. It goes unmauled, so he congratulates himself silently on the success. 

"Thank you," Mr. Lee says, relief obvious in his voice. 

"I should be thanking you," he says, aware of Joyonghan sniffing at his hand cautiously. "You just saved us some steps. Now, I see it's a lighter color than we normally like to see..."

He moves into the typical thread of questions - Joyonghan's diet, other animals in the home, if he's let outside regularly, habits, etc. (mid-market dry food, none, only with supervision, and "he watches TV with my roommate sometimes?...oh, you meant cat habits. Habits of his...as a cat."). Mr. Lee answers them all promptly and thoughtfully - if a bit absentmindedly on the last one - so Kibum mentally gives him a few more points. If all his patients' parents were like this, he'd be a much happier person at work.  

After a bit of negotiation, Mr. Lee manages to coax Joyonghan onto the scale for the customary reading as well, and Kibum marks him down as within a healthy range.

The routine comes to an end, and he surreptitiously slides his eyes up to the clock reading  _6:15._  

"We'll run this sample through a few tests over the weekend just to be safe, but I think only a close eye on him is needed for the time being. It's likely that he ate something that he shouldn't have, so check on him as soon as you get home from work each day and look for any signs that he may be defecating or urinating in abnormal places. Since this is the first time you've noticed something, he probably got his way into something you don't normally keep in the house."

Mr. Lee is nodding, clearly paying close attention - or his best approximation of it around Joyonghan's squirming in his arms. He strokes at the cat's belly, rocking him slightly in his bared arms. He had rolled up his sleeves before scooping Joyonghan up earlier, and Kibum doesn't think he even noticed. He has a few scratches on them, pale and healed over neatly, disrupting an even tan. His fingers brush against the ripple pattern of orange and black almost hypnotically.

With a start, Kibum realizes he's gone off the rails mentally, but to his relief Mr. Lee's expression it hasn't spilled into his spiel. Or, perhaps, he wasn't paying attention either. 

"And you can schedule his follow-up with Minho at reception," a thought strikes him belatedly, fueled by the memory of the man's grin, and he leans in. "Cats really take to him. You should see if his magic works for this boy here."

He caps his invitation with the risky move of reaching out to pat Joyonghan's head, and Mr. Lee's eyes go wide, but to his satisfaction the cat assents to his fingers gently stroking between his ears.

His unwitting accomplice is staring down at Kibum's hand, shock evident on his face, but it quickly transforms into clear affection as he cuddles Joyonghan close to his chest. Kibum's hand slips and bumps against him, so he withdraws with an apology and a minor pang of guilt for taking advantage of Mr. Lee's clearly good nature. But, given that he is on track for the 6:38 bus - the one with the driver who takes turns too fast and Kibum  _always_  bangs his head - it's not enough to stop him from getting some minor revenge.  

His arms full, Mr. Lee somehow still manages to execute a half-bow before leaving. 

"Thank you, doctor. Have a good night!" 

"You too, Mr. Lee."

* * *

The TV is blaring so loud Jinki can hear it as he walks up the hallway to their apartment, but when he opens the door Taemin greets him with his voice raised over it, instead of turning it down. He slips off his shoes as he raises his hand back in greeting. Shouting back would condone such behavior, in his opinion. 

"So your vet is hot, huh?" Taemin asks.

"What?" Jinki laughs, taken aback. He bends down to release an antsy Joyonghan from his carrier. 

Taemin holds up his phone silently, its screen betraying a series of messages. 

 _@onewyaong:_   _the doctor thinks he ate something bad =(_

_@onewyaong: on my way back. did you leave out something? did you buy anything new this week??_

_@onewyaong: we have another appt next wed_

_@taeinthemirror: did he enjoy the shit_

_@onewyaong: it was helpful =|_

_@onewyaong: we need more baggies too_

_@onewyaong: ok leaving now. is there food?_

_@taeinthemirror: no_

_@onewyaong: almost home. it went really well_

_@onewyaong: he was nice_

_@onewyaong: joyonghan liked him_

The look on Taemin 's face is so patently disbelieving Jinki's insulted.

"Joyonghan doesn't even like you," he says. 

"That's not true," Jinki murmurs from where he's kneeling, letting Joyonghan nuzzle into his hand with only intermittent nips to the sensitive skin between his fingers. "He was really good today. He let Dr. Kim weigh him. And he pet him."

"Marry him, hyung," he retorts. He lifts himself up into an arch, craning his head backwards so he can look Jinki in the face. It's disturbingly flexible. "You're not denying. You are interested. Did you confess before or after the shit?"

Jinki cups his hands around Joyonghan's belly and pulls him up on his hind legs, puppeting his front paws as a defense to Taemin's gaze. His retort is half-muffled by the furry barrier. "I'm not going to ask him out."

"You will." He doesn't say "duh", but Jinki reads it in his tone clearly enough. 

He picks up the carrier and takes it to the closet, tucking it into his shelf. Taemin doesn't know what he's talking about - about Joyonghan or Doctor Kim. He knows what he saw at the office. He wishes he had caught it on video, but Taemin should believe him regardless. It's not like Joyonghan never lets anyone pet him; he's just discerning about who - and Doctor Kim made the cut.

He has to admit to himself, that Jinki is glad that Joyonghan approves of Doctor Kim. He seemed like a genuine person to Jinki, honest, but professional, but not cold. By definition the other vets he's seen have been obliged to tend to Joyonghan, but it's always been with a detachment that made Jinki uneasy. He has his theory that that's why Joyonghan didn't like any of them; he can sense that they've already dismissed him as a lost, grumpy cause, and Jinki as a naive sap. 

Doctor Kim was better about it. He didn't make Jinki feel like an imposition, even though he knows as a walk-in, with an angry cat, he must have been. He also didn't run away from him when he pulled out a bag of cat poop with a date and time label, actually thanking him. And repeatedly making the carefully paced effort to placate Joyonghan and let him know everything was OK. It makes Jinki feel warm and grateful for the recommendation Jonghyun provided. 

"Scat's really a fifth date kind of thing," Taemin continues to muse out loud from the living room. 

He thinks their last vet would have dismissed him as a crazy owner, but Doctor Kim took him seriously, with not even a hint of derision in the smooth, even tone of his voice. The way he had lifted his eyebrows every time has asked a question is drifting unhurriedly across his memories, and he swallows down some kind of response. 

His thoughts are headed down a path he did not intend in the slightest, he realizes in a rush, and curses his roommate. The closet door gets closed more firmly than necessary.  

"You can do that to a headboard too, you know!" Taemin shouts from the living room. 

* * *

Kibum wouldn't call himself vindictive, exactly - but when Minho gets home with a fresh set of scratches peeking out beneath the cuff of his coat, a small smirk can't help but curl up as he pretends not to see, instead opting to continue watching late night TV. 

"You didn't tell me this place services demons," he complains, hanging up his backpack near the door. "I feel like that should have been in the paperwork."

"It was," he says, sipping calmly at his tea. "And anything more than that you gave up when you put me in the room with said demon cat."

He scooches to make reluctant room on the couch. His favorite, homey comforter is tugged up to his chin, the lumps of his hands using it as a protective surface from the warm mug balanced precisely in his lap. 

Minho scoffs and sits down next to him; the blanket is tugged in his customary unsubtle attempt at theft. Kibum's dogs, lazing on the beds, look at the scene suspiciously. 

"Shouldn't have tried to duck out like that. Or at least don't just stand there gaping at the door."

"I'll do it better next time," he shoots back, his words snapping and bite. The slow usurpation of his comfort set-up itches at his raw nerves. Even with Minho next to him, the couch still feels empty. 

The other man looks sideways at him. 

"Ah, Kibum, what's wrong?" his roommate trades in his pulling of the blanket to tug at Kibum instead. Clutching his mug protectively, Kibum finds himself being snuggled insistently, grumpiness exacerbated at being recognized. 

A Minho on the scent of a friend in trouble is the most dangerous Minho of them all.  

"Just a long day," he says the partial truth easily enough. "Let me see what Joyonghan did to you."

He pulls out his hand and raises his eyebrow questioningly. 

"Please tell me you rinsed this out."

Minho rolls his eyes, but Kibum knows better than to take it seriously. 

"I work the front desk of an animal clinic, in case you forgot. I know what to do."

When Kibum's mouth twists, perfectly annoyed, Minho lets out a put-upon sigh. 

" _Yes_ , Doctor Kim."

"Good," he pats it down gently, feeling a small sliver of guilt when Minho winces. Being as he's still somewhat new at the clinic, and mostly shielded at his desk, and with a predilection for touching soft, fuzzy things, Minho operates as though all animals are labradors. He's also all soft-hearted, and charming, and it's what made him recommend his friend for the job when it came up. 

It leads him to retroactively suspect the groundwork with Mr. Lee wasn't needed. Minho probably still would have made the effort to pet the cat, assuming confidently that Kibum had fixed whatever was making it upset when they first arrived. 

The small sliver expands uncomfortably. 

"I'm surprised th-," Minho begins to comment just as he decides to make a game attempt at erasing his guilt. 

"Want some tea?" 

Minho nods, and Kibum carefully extracts himself from the mix of limbs and blanket and heads for the small, tidy kitchen they share. The slightly taller man follows him, his bare feet shuffling along the tile like a little kid. Their shelves are getting bare, but he has enough to start another batch of plum tea and begins quietly working over it, glad for something to fiddle over. One of his dogs follows them, drawn by even the gentle domestic clattering.

"You don't usually remember names," Minho says, after a moment of watching him putter comfortably between the stove and the shelves. It takes Kibum a second to realize he's finishing his shortchanged thought. "I thought you tried to leave that stuff from work."

Kibum makes a face.

"You heard it in the lobby, right? And  _from_  the lobby? Who names a cat like that 'Quiet'?"

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spots Minho shrugging and jumping up to sit on the counter, tossing an apple back and forth between his hands. He pats himself on the back mentally for shutting down the conversation -

"Such a corny name, anyway." 

\- before re-engaging it himself. The thought had exited his mouth without prior approval. 

"Mmm," Minho says around a mouthful of fruit. 

"It'd be like naming a Dalmatian 'Stripes'. Or a guinea pig 'Monster Truck'. Seriously, Mr. Lee was my age. What's he doing, making uncle jokes like that?" he finishes with a laugh, wincing at how weak it sounds.

 Minho takes the proffered cup with a weird expression, one that makes Kibum feel like he should whack it off his face. But, seeing as how he's already done physical damage through a proxy cat today, he takes a sip and stares right back instead. 

"His name is Jinki," Minho finally says in response. "He's older than you. Kim Jonghyun recommended us to him."

 "Jonghyun...Roo?" he replies, surprised. "He's never mentioned Jinki before."

"Why would he mention a friend to his  _vet_?" Minho asks.

"Jonghyun's my friend," Kibum mumbles defensively around the lip of his mug.

Minho is still eyeballing him. He turns away quickly, sipping desperately at his tea. 

"Oh. Oh, wow."

Kibum ignores his realization.

" _Oooooooooooh_."

Kibum heads straight to his room and slams the door in Minho's face. His phone promptly buzzes. 

_@minhoooooal: are you working on wednesday kibummie_

_@minhoooooal: jinki will be there~_

_@minhoooooal: he was so happy that you pet his cat you know_

_@minhoooooal: maybe he wants some of that action for himself~_

Kibum marches back to his door and listens for a moment. Tugging it open abruptly, he steps aside Minho's stumble into the room, phone loose in his hand. With his attention broken, and dodging both of the dogs drawn by the raised voices, Kibum snatches it from him and marches past him into the bathroom, flips open the toilet lid, and holds. 

The reversal of the expression on Minho's face, from playful teasing, to horror, is just enough to get past the roaring in Kibum's ears and register amusement. Still - 

"What I want to do with my life, and who that involves, is mine," he says as icily as he can manage.

"Right."

His grip loosens slightly, and Minho's eyes bulge. 

"And if something were to happen, with _anyone_ , at a time that is mutually beneficial to both of us, that's my business."

"Yep."

"And you are in no way going to encourage, discourage, or interfere with that process without my express permission."

There's sweat on Minho's lip, he notes with satisfaction. The other man nods.

Kibum considers him, and, with a swift move, tosses his phone back. 

"Your tea is getting cold, dummy, and mine too. Let's go reheat," he says as he heads back to their abandoned cups beside the stove. 

Despite their standoff and Minho's promises, there's still a hanging question in the air. It makes the kitchen feel oddly heavy, like they left Kibum's nascent crush bored and alone and it's itching for a confrontation. Kibum won't give it the satisfaction of attention or conversation, pushing out the mental image of Jinki, excited and describing Kibum's successful petting to Minho. 

When he's good and ready, he'll squirrel all the information he wants about Lee Jinki out of Minho  _and_  Jonghyun, and not a moment sooner. 

It's only a couple hours later, after Minho yawns noisily and heads to bed, that he pulls out his phone and examines the work calendar for Wednesday. 

* * *

"Grmf," Jinki says.

Joyonghan's paws are pressed firmly against his mouth.  Cautiously, and with due respect to the unsheathed claws less than an inch from his lips, he pulls the right one away so he can try again. 

"Get off."

Joyonghan meows at his plea dismissively, so Jinki takes the risk of reaching for the other paw and firmly moves it away from his face, at least.

Greenish-brown eyes stare him down until he completes the relocation efforts and picks up his phone in a bout of morbid curiosity. 

To Jinki's extreme horror,  _4:00 AM_  is displayed in bright white characters. He has a notification, even - a message; and since he went to bed message-free at midnight, he knows it can only really be one person.

_@jjongd: hi jinki ^^_

While he's distracted on his phone, Joyonghan has moved his attention southwards, and has begun kneading his paws against Jinki's thighs, a familiar pattern he instinctively adjusts his position for. 

_@onewyaong: morning_

_@jjongd: ur awake! good morning!_

_@jjongd: wait y are u awake? r u feeling ok?_

_@onewyaong: i'm fine. joyonghan woke me up._

Joyonghan finishes up his kneading, moving to rub his head against his leg, pushing Jinki to turn onto his side. Still squinting at the screen, he begins to type but a new message comes in before he can send. Jonghyun always did type faster than he did, he remembers, bleary-eyed as he reads, deleting his half-written message.

_@jjongd: what was it this time_

_@jjongd: did he bite your nose again_

_@onewyaong: no paws to mouth_

_@jjongd: a menace!!_

_@jjongd: is he ok_

A fond, sleepy smile crosses his face. The question is a much better gesture than most people, especially considering the last time Jonghyun came over with Roo, his cat had batted the little dachshund's nose and made her quiver in Jonghyun's arms for the rest of the night. Jinki still feels kind of guilty about it, even though he knows that the dog would have ended up being cuddled all night regardless. 

_@onewyaong: he was a little cranky bc he was scared but doing better now_

_@jjongd: good ^^ did he try to eat key_

His eyebrows furrow together as he re-reads. 

_@onewyaong: no he hasn't eaten any keys_

  _@jjongd: no, Key. Kibum. Doctor Kim??_

Joyonghan leaps above him and curls against his chest, and he noses gently at the soft fur behind his ears. A hot flush sweeps over his face, embarrassment at how dumb his response looks, and with thinking of Doctor Kim in the dead of night, in his bed. 

"I'm not doing anything wrong," he mutters, and Joyonghan rightfully ignores him. 

_@jjongd: it's his nickname sorry ^_

_@onewyaong: np. he was helpful. joyonghan even let him pet him_

_@jjongd: no way!!_

_@jjongd: that's great i'm really happy he worked out_

_@jjongd: maybe he could help you out even more ;) wdyt_

Jinki closes his eyes in frustration. He is going to murder Taemin. He's going to put Joyonghan on his face for merciless application of paws to mouth.

Except - then he'll probably freak out and Joyonghan will scratch him and Taemin will throw him off the bed. And he'll have to take care of both of them. And they'll be hurt. 

He schools his expression into fierce resolve as he changes his plan of action. He's going to  _inconvenience_ Taemin, badly. 

While he's pondering, his phone lights up again.

_@jjongd: he's really good!_

"What does that even mean?" he asks Joyonghan, his mind already spiralling over Jonghyun's last message. He was really good at animal care, he thinks. That had to be it. Jonghyun has Roo; Roo has been to the office and, as her owner, Jonghyun would have a qualified assessment of Kib- Doctor Kim. 

After a brief moment of consideration, he allows generously that Jonghyun could have been saying that he is really good at being a person.

Jinki grabs his phone to put an end to this. 

_@onewyaong: i'm going back to sleep now_

His mouth is weirdly dry as he settles onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. Joyonghan leaps onto his chest and curls up.

He remembers the exact, precise curve of Kibum's lips when he smiled. He has to relent, in the face of such a memory,  that Kibum is definitely good at being a person. He...inhibits his body well. Jonghyun had been 100% accurate on that part. 

A subsequent, more unpleasant thought occurs as consequence of that - that Jonghyun and Kibum were involved, and Jonghyun was, for reasons Jinki doesn't understand, implying Kibum's  _quality_  in other areas to his friend, who he had just heard ( _inaccurately_ , he gives telepathy another go as he directs that towards Taemin) was interested in his ex. 

That seems like a weird choice, out of character for someone like Jonghyun, but it's the option that's making Jinki's stomach twist in anxiety the most, and therefore it's the option that he can't quite discount. 

He forces himself to lay out what has happened. 

  * Jonghyun recommends a vet to Jinki, a vet he apparently knows well enough to refer to him by his nickname
  * (said nickname is cute)
  * (said vet is cute)
  * Taemin thinks that Jinki is interested in said (cute) vet
  * Taemin texts Jonghyun his misguided conclusion
  * Jonghyun texts Jinki with a statement about how "good" said (cute) vet is



He hugs Joyonghan a little closer, ignoring the low note of displeasure as he moves onto the next mental list, this one far more daunting: what could happen next. 

  * Jonghyun could inform Kibum of Jinki's presumptive interest
  * Kibum could bring it up on Wednesday 
  * He, and Joyonghan, could be forced to find a new vet
  * He could - he will - be profoundly embarrassed.



The last item, despite his best efforts, seems a complete foregone conclusion, given the state of his stomach. He feels embarrassed thinking about it, in the dark pre-dawn of his room, and imagining Kibum addressing it in any capacity is mortifying. 

There's a small, insistent voice in the back of his mind, though, and it feels absurdly hopeful. 

 _Since Jonghyun knew Kibum well enough to recommend him, they're probably friendly, if not friends,_  the voice reasons.  _He would know if his friend would be single and interested._

 _But -_ Jinki objects.  _You don't go to the vet to get a date. It's his place of work, and it would be inappropriate for me to - to hit on him. I would be putting him in a very awkward situation. And even if he were interested, doesn't mean I'm interested._

 _You also know Jonghyun_ , the voice continues evenly.  _He was most likely talking about Kibum's high quality as a doctor, which you don't disagree with. Jonghyun has never purposefully put you in a situation where you could be hurt or embarrassed._

_Yeah..._

_He wouldn't tell Kibum because that would be embarrassing,_  the voice says, very reasonably. _Also, denial is immature._

Jinki hates this voice. He doesn't know where it came from, frankly, and if being awake at 4AM - he casts another look at his phone - 4:18AM involves being condescended to by his own subconsciousness, he swears it off entirely. 

 _It seems likely that_ _he's interested in you too_.  _He was looking at your arms._

 _That_  is quite enough, in Jinki's opinion. He gets up to go to the bathroom, unsettling Joyonghan and ensuring he'll pay for that later, but Jinki can't bring himself to care. He's going to have to do something desperate to get that voice out of his head. 

 _@onewyaong_ :  _can't sleep. go to the gym w/ me?_

_@jjongd: sure see u there!_

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments, as the standard of time has proven, are adored and appreciated. thank you!


	2. Sunday and Monday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What's wrong with you?" Taemin puts his hand on Jinki's thigh and shakes it brazenly. "Bang your head twice on the table if it's about your hot doctor."
> 
>  
> 
> _bang bang_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (apparently it's onkey day? a very handy excuse to post the second chapter)
> 
> there's quite a bit of jonghyun in this chapter - nothing dark, but just making everyone aware.

The Sunday night is balmy and perfect for a long, peaceful walk that conveniently takes Kibum right to Jonghyun's work. He turns the corner and there he is, positioned beneath one of the streetlights. His guitar is carefully perched on his knee, and his eyes are closed as he sings.

As Kibum gets closer, he spots Roo, settled beneath his legs on her own blanket laid gently across the pavement. He ducks into the cafe before Jonghyun can spot him, paying for his cup of coffee as Jonghyun finishes up his song with his last line sung in a sweet falsetto. 

He plants himself at one of the small patio tables as Jonghyun exchanges a few words with some people who, by the looks of things, have been hanging around for a few songs. Kibum can't blame them - it's a beautiful night to hear some beautiful music, and the street is picturesque. There are only a few small restaurants and lanterns hanging out from upper story windows. A bakery is somewhere nearby; the smell of freshly baked bread is wafting temptingly in front of him. 

It's a much better locale than the lobby of the clinic, where the constant up side of Roo's check-ups is Jonghyun's impromptu acapella singing to keep her nerves down. It had pretty good acoustics, he had told Kibum once, his cheeks dimpling as he smiled. 

That, and the fact that he inevitably ended up charming the receptionists, the nurses, and other pet parents, makes their visits a bit of an occasion. Jonghyun seemed to attract fans wherever he went. Kibum wasn't surprised when the cashier had advised that he take a seat outside for a free show. 

He lets Jonghyun finish up his conversation and resume playing, since it's still early. His coffee is gradually cooling to a drinkable temperature, and Kibum sips at it and lets himself enjoy the unhurried atmosphere. Jonghyun begins a new song, something that sounds vaguely familiar to Kibum, sparks a memory of Roo getting her nails clipped, while Jonghyun stroked her long ears between calloused fingers.

Halfway through is when Jonghyun spots Kibum, mid affectionate gazing at the audience. As his expression brightens, the only right word Kibum can find for it is luminescent.

When he finishes, he nods, smiling, to the other guests in the patio, a couple of them clapping appreciatively. Reaching beneath his seat, he pats Roo's side to wake her up from a light doze and together they trot over to Kibum. His guitar bounces on his hip, producing a small _thunk-thunk-thunk_.

"Nice song," Kibum greets him, because it was. 

"Ah, thanks," Jonghyun thanks him with a shy quirk to his lips, reaching up to ruffle his hair between his fingers. "You should have told me you were coming."

Kibum shrugs noncommittedly. 

"Spur of the moment thing. Hi, Roo," he says, smiling down as she arrives at the scene and looks up at Kibum like she's trying to place him. He bends down and reaches through the short fence to let her sniff to confirm his identity before he scratches at the back of her head. 

Jonghyun twists back at his set-up to make sure it's secure, before looking down at the petting session fondly. 

"You plan on being here for a while?"

"Not in a rush," Kibum says, honest. He had known for a while that Jonghyun busked regularly, not as his source of income, but for pleasure. He had been meaning to see it for a while, but life insisted on getting in the way. 

Jonghyun looks delighted.

"Any requests?"

Kibum shakes his head, a small smile on his lips as Jonghyun picks up Roo easily with one hand and makes his way back to his station. He pulls his guitar around again to the front and begins strumming. 

It's a bright tune with his lilting voice to go along with it, and it has Kibum tapping his foot in no time. It's perfect music for Instagram-stalking Jinki for only the fourth time since Friday night. 

Picture of Joyonghan. Picture of a wall. Picture of Joyonghan next to a confused-looking blonde man, Jinki's hand stretched around in frame, giving a V-sign. Picture of a chicken coop - that one had sent him into a flurry of hunting to see if Jinki was from the country, and Kibum had been forced to conclude that no, Jinki just felt that those particular chickens were worth documenting. Picture of a street a night, taken from a doorway and looking out into the passing traffic, the cars reduced to blurs of color. He wishes Jinki had turned the front-facing camera on for that one, as he easily imagines his face lit up beneath various shades of neon. 

There had been a few selfies scattered infrequently - too few, in Kibum's protracted analysis. His thumb pauses over the most recent one. It's of Jinki, laying on his side, head propped up in his hand, with Joyonghan positioned in front of him. The cat looks distinctly unimpressed in contrast to Jinki's broad, eye-crinkle of a smile. Kibum thinks he would have remembered him smiling like that in the office, because the first time he saw it he had to close his phone for a moment and just - process what he was looking at. And, after processing, he immediately thought how he could make him smile like that. 

So far, he had narrowed it down to cat, chickens, and bad jokes. Not really Kibum's normal approach, but he could work with it. 

He closes down his Instagram after a few more minutes of perusing, and takes a few photos of his own - of his coffee; of Jonghyun, bent over his guitar, hair falling in front of his face; of the view looking up towards the electric cables, clothing lines, lanterns, and the purple-pink sky at sunset. He texts the second one to Jonghyun instead of posting it. 

The musician finishes up soon enough, the sky transitioning into purple-blue, and packs up his guitar to the voiced dismay of a few girls sitting behind Kibum. 

Their chatter becomes excited again when Jonghyun takes all of his stuff and drops it over the fence beside Kibum, heading into the cafe and coming out a few minutes later with his own drink clutched to his chest. 

"Check your phone," Kibum demands when he sits, and feels a warm glow when Jonghyun exclaims over the photo, pointing out how Roo - unbeknownst to Kibum as he took the photo - is yawning cutely between his legs. 

"Veterinarian and photographer," he says, chuckling. "You should advertise."

"I should charge, more like," he says. "But you can pay me back."

"Oh?"

"Tell me about Jinki."

Jonghyun snorts inelegantly. 

"Ah, now I see what this was all about," he looks more amused than Kibum would like, but it's better than offense. "Surveillance, flattery, interrogation..."

"It's only an interrogation if you make it difficult. And I meant those compliments."

He shrugs, smiling indulgently.

"So when was the last time you saw him?" Kibum asks. 

"Yesterday."

"What were you doing?" 

"Working out together. Then we got breakfast."

"Regular habit?" he asks, fearing the answer and the mental images it could give

"Spontaneous for us. Although I thought this was spontaneous, so maybe my definition is off..."

Kibum ignores the jab.

"Known him long?"

Jonghyun 'mm-hmms' into his cup, one of the guitar strings rubbed between his fingers. Kibum lets the pause between them sit until Jonghyun realizes he wants him to continue. 

"We went to the same school. He was a year ahead, but did some tutoring for my class so we saw each other pretty often. Probably wouldn't have graduated without his help."

His mental defenses are for a sweaty, exercising Jinki, so they aren't prepared for the equally potent assault of a studious, teacherly Jinki. He might have even chewed thoughtfully on his pencil. It's an extremely promising image that Kibum has to forcibly push in his back pocket for review later.

"Is he dating anyone?"

Jonghyun arches back into a stretch, yawning; when he releases with a groan his eyes are full of amusement at Kibum's expression. 

"No."

"How recent is your knowledge?"

His eyebrows dance up. 

"Extremely."

Kibum narrows his eyes, caught on the teasing note in Jonghyun's voice on the last answer. 

"Jjong," the nickname comes out in full force, hoping to use it to full effect. "Do you have something to share with me?"

The other man shrugs, having moved on to dancing a guitar pick across his fingers. Kibum resists the urge to snatch it from him.

"He just seemed distracted the other morning. And the only thing he had done unusual that day was see you, so..."

"That's  _nothing_ , Jesus," he sighs. "I thought you were going to tell me he was-"

"What? Had just posted a wanted ad for a hot, single veterinarian with two dogs and no social life? Was whispering 'oh, doctor ' under his breath?"

Kibum is, to his annoyance, very close to pouting. Jonghyun laughs at him and leans forward, grabbing his hand in his. 

"I  _know_ Jinki, much better than you," he says sincerely. "I'm not going to speak for him, but I haven't seen him like that since he got dumped senior year and was pining for a month straight. He thinks on things. He's not the type of guy to gossip."

 "...really?" he asks, hating how his voice has become shy, almost vulnerable. 

Jonghyun nods. 

"Just don't scare him off."

"Like I could," Kibum grouses, even though he's feeling much more optimistic. "He's the one with the demon cat."

* * *

There's a prolonged groan waking Jinki up, and Jinki is deeply disturbed to find it's coming from himself. He blinks up at the popcorned ceiling. It's Monday. He has to go to work. 

It takes him a moment to realize no alarm has gone off; his body has taken the initiative to wake itself up. A deeply personal and hurtful betrayal, he thinks as he stretches out his legs. The blanket shifts across him as he moves, and as the heavy material drags over his lap he remembers with a start why he woke up. 

He has a serious case of morning wood, the tip of his dick peeking out from the fly in his boxers. 

As to why he has morning wood, he closes his eyes in a rush of realization. 

 _Kibum_. 

The man had infiltrated his dreams, all dark eyes and sly smiles and the half-remembered details are heating him precisely over his body, like someone is drawing a candle next to his skin. The sides of his torso, just beneath his ribs, where Kibum had slowly moving his hands down; at the points of his hips, where his hands had stopped to grip him tightly; the pinnacle of his shoulder blades, bumping against a wall that didn't exist, pushed there by Kibum, trapping him with his own body.

He cracks an eye open in paranoia - his body is so growing so heated it feels like he's not remembering a dream, like Kibum is somewhere, in his room, watching him and - 

Oh god, Jinki thinks as he lets out another throaty noise. His mind is seizing mercilessly on the idea of Kibum  _watching_ him writhe, hard and - he takes stock of his body -  _leaking_. His groan is halfway to a whiny moan and he gives in, too tired for protestations, reaching down to grasp at his dick. 

Approximately six and a half minutes later, he breathlessly concedes that Taemin may have been onto something. 

* * *

The series of events Jinki had been fearing has been changed significantly with his newfound acceptance, he concludes privately over toast a bit later, but it's no less anxiety-inducing.

  * Jonghyun could inform Kibum of Jinki's confirmed interest
  * Kibum could bring it up on Wednesday
  * He will be embarrassed, regardless of what Kibum actually says



"I don't have to do anything about this," he confides to Joyonghan when he spoons food into his bowl, the cat winding around his ankles. With this new bout of consideration, he agrees that Jonghyun is unlikely to disclose things like this. His 4AM voice was right on that point. So, presuming that this little unexpected twist is still semi-private, he could just live with it. 

Joyonghan bites at a loose bit of sock around his little toe. Absentmindedly, Jinki shakes his foot to remove him, only for the cat to take it as a sign for play and gnaw harder. 

"I know, I know," he says as he walks back across the kitchen, dragging Joyonghan along his side on the tile floor, unwilling to release his hold. "But if he doesn't bring anything up, then I can just ignore it. It's not like we run in the same circles."

Reaching down, he slips off his sock, hopping on one foot as he struggles to take it off with the attachment. Once he gets it off, he tosses it to Joyonghan as his prize. 

With the concession won, the cat turns to investigate his food instead, leaving Jinki to continue pondering. 

"Jonghyun, though," he says aloud. Jonghyun knows both of them, and just because their circles have never intersected before, doesn't mean they won't in the future. He likes Jonghyun; he doesn't want to stop seeing him out of some unrealized fear. 

With a sigh, he realizes what he has to do. 

_@onewyaong: i need to talk to you_

The other man is probably still asleep, but Jinki feels oddly reassured for having sent it. Jonghyun is the best of the two options he has in front of him, for talking things out, since Taemin's figuring it out before Jinki himself did is less than flattering. 

Grabbing his phone, and his bag, he steps over Joyonghan and and heads for the door, already planning out the rest of the conversation. 

* * *

The start of the work week is passing slower than the decay of the universe, and Kibum makes sure to say so to Minho as soon as his 9:30AM appointment is done. It was an older man, with his equally old spaniel, both sleepy and lazy, and it's infecting Kibum with ennui much too early in the week. The clock tells him he has at least six more hours to go, and he lets his head fall forward with a barely stifled groan of dismay. 

"Maybe the test results will come in soon," Minho suggests. Kibum can't see his expression, but he recognizes the faux-innocent tone in his voice all too well. He schools his face back into order as he responds.

"It'll be here soon enough." The offsite non-emergency lab typically has their results handed in by late morning, or the early afternoon. 10AM is optimistic; Kibum usually checks his inbox after returning from lunch.

But for this particular day, he's been idly considering skipping lunch altogether so he can be in the office and monitor the mail situation. By the look on Minho's face, he's barely restraining himself from bringing that up himself. Even his suggestion skirted the line of violating their agreement, but it seems his roommate can't resist as his phone pings.

_@minhoooooal: go get us lunch_

_@offki: no. it's your turn._

_@minhoooooal: you need a distraction_

He ignores them and pulls open a game to fiddle. The rest of the morning is bound to be slow, as most visits aren't booked during a typical work day. He just has to steel himself to wait it out by whatever means necessary. He will proceed as normal. 

The absurd optimism of a 10AM delivery is singularly tempting, though, if only because it should include a certain stool sample. Kibum, completely validly, has shit to look forward to. 

On Friday, Kibum had been fairly positive it wouldn't come back with anything unusual, but a little more than 48 hours later, he's foregoing the vet equivalent of the Hippocratic oath and finds himself fantasizing about a nice case of intestinal parasites. Nothing serious, of course, but a light case that will provide an excuse for Jinki to spend more time at the office and for Kibum to present himself as a viable dating option. 

He's confident that Jinki finds him attractive; but attraction and action don't go hand in hand, at least not for someone like Jinki - according to Jonghyun, who Kibum had hung around with late into the night, eventually getting it out a few drinks later. 

_"He's just...." Jonghyun waved his hands imprecisely. "Squishy and soft. Pillows."_

_Kibum had furrowed his brow and tried to mimic the motions, ending with a squeeze around imaginary love handles._

_"Squishy?"_

_"Emotional squish," he explains, color high in his cheeks. "Not a physical squish."_

_He looked at Kibum critically._

_"He could deadlift you," he said, completely serious, and Kibum wanted to explode into a thousand pieces for the mental picture that inspired as Jonghyun continued. "Like, right up there. Just..." he gestured up like he's guiding in an airplane._

_"People just get the wrong idea about him, you know? Because he doesn't act on everything. Feelings. He keeps it in because feelings are - they're for him to think about first. So if he does want," he poked Kibum in the chest and cooed, impressed, when the other man didn't budge. "He's going to pick over it."_

Kibum is, for all intents and purposes, a stranger to Jinki, and he has no intention of pretending otherwise moving forward. It's a little disheartening, thinking about how much better it would have been to meet him through a mutual friend like Jonghyun - and he had been sure to tell the other man that last night, bemoaning sloppily over a beer, eventually letting Jonghyun cling-hug to him in apology - but he has never been one to dwell on regrets. He has to deal with the hand he's been dealt, and that hand includes a sweet, slightly goofy man who can probably hold Kibum up. Possibly against a wall. 

So, he'll play it however he has to play it. And if the best path includes intestinal parasites, so be it. 

"Keeeeey," Minho calls him from where he's leaning over the desk, long legs splayed out behind him. "Please, this is for your benefit. Get us food."

"I said no."

"So the plan is to stand around and yearn, or...?"

Kibum snaps up his head to glare and finds Minho clutching his phone tightly. He narrows his gaze.

"I am going to  _stand here_ , as a gainfully employed doctor ready to receive patients who may need assistance."

Minho shrugs. 

"Call it whatever you want, but you don't have a schedule until 12:30 and Dr. Liu can handle any walk-ins."

Kibum ignores him and fills up some space with typing.

_@offki: thanks for your help last night_

_@jjongd: ofc_

_@offki: are you playing today?_

_@jjongd: yes!! i'm setting up soon_

_@jjongd: if u have some free time come by later_

_@offki: maybe_

_@offki: i usually have lunch around 12_

Jonghyun texts him an excited affirmation back almost immediately, and Kibum puts away his phone with a smile. 

He looks up at the clock: 10:02AM. Excruciatingly slow, it ticks its way to 10:03. 

Minho's high-pitched laughter echoes around the lobby when Kibum goes for the door, jacket slung over his arm and backpack in hand. 

* * *

Jinki munches on his piece of toast and stares balefully out the window. His 15-minute break is already on its fourth minute, and his brain is fuzzed and slow as it tries to do the math on what that means for the remaining time.

Monday morning is typically one of their busiest shifts, and today has been no different, keeping Jinki from his intended mental deliberations over what to do, and what to say to Jonghyun when he sees him today. But his mind isn't cooperating with him, having lost the thread of his intent over getting settled into the work for the day.

Eleven minutes. 15 minus 4 is 11. Glancing at his phone, he groans and amends it to ten minutes. 

Taemin slides into the booth beside him and nudges him. 

"You're obvious as hell, you know that?"

"Hell isn't obvious," Jinki responds flatly. "Otherwise there wouldn't be debates about its existence. So I'm not obvious. So thank you."

The younger man snickers. Jinki taps at the table, Taemin's presence unearthing a comment he's been unable to shake, only ignore periodically. 

"You shouldn't have texted Jonghyun."

Taemin twists his head to look at him, a quizzical expression on his face.

"....shouldn't have texted him  _what_?"

"Anything about Dr. Kim."

"Your hot doctor?" Taemin smiles broadly as Jinki mumbles around a mouthful of jam, "he's not  _my_ hot doctor, but yeah."

"I didn't send Jonghyun anything about that. Here," he pats at his pockets. "Wait. Shit. Hold on."

Jinki waits patiently as Taemin ducks into the bathroom and comes back out, phone clutched protectively in his hands. He tosses it to Jinki, who fumbles it as the other man slides up against him and rests his head on his shoulder. 

_@taeinthemirror: send me a pic_

_@jjongd: [image attached]_

_@jjongd: want another?_

"See," Taemin says victoriously. "I told you."

Jinki's holding his head, words muffled behind the heels of his hands, pressed against his jaw. 

"Why did you think I did? Hey," he wraps his arm around him. "Share."

"Something Jonghyun said," Jinki slowly responds, digging into the corners of his eyes with his fingers. "About Dr. Kim. I thought you told him that I -"

"Wanted him carnally?"

Jinki huffs out a breath. 

"Yeah, no. See?" he opens up his phone again. Jinki makes an abortive motion to cover his eyes, only to stop halfway as Taemin goes up thread. "What day?"

"Saturday. Morning."

There's nothing incriminating there as Taemin scrolls to demonstrate, and Jinki is stumped. The only conclusion he can reasonably reach is that Jonghyun was being suggestive on his own, like he expected something to happen on Friday. Since the only reason the appointment happened on Friday is because of Jonghyun, there's a growing, weedy suspicion that this was a case of intentional matchmaking, a meet-cute born of potential pet illness. He feels slightly affronted on Joyonghan's behalf. 

But as far as multi-tasking goes, it worked to both of the other man's ends. Joyonghan got looked at by a doctor that knew what he was doing, and said doctor is now the focus of Jinki's lowkey, slightly anxious pining. His previous conversations with Jonghyun are jockeying for attention for an explanation. Did he think that Jinki was lonely?

Jinki wasn't lonely. He had Taemin, and Joyonghan, and Sunyong, and Joon - and others. His fingers itch around his phone, like he has to prove a minimum acceptable social life.

Or maybe - an odd, sad weight settles in his chest that squashes other objections - Jonghyun thought Kibum was lonely. 

This whole new avenue of information is affecting his tentative plan. He turns to look outside again as an escape and spies Jonghyun, setting up outside the cafe and smiling at - at  _Kibum_.

The espresso machine starts screaming and Jinki has never identified with it more. 

* * *

"I thought you weren't coming till noon?" 

Kibum shrugs, wrapping his jacket around himself tighter. The nice weather from the day before has evaporated, leaving behind an overcast sky that promises to threaten rain later. 

"Took an earlier lunch under strenuous co-worker advisement," he says. "Need any help?"

"Thanks! Watch Roo for me?"

"Sure," Kibum takes the proffered leash in hand and kneels down to greet the excited dachshund who's sniffing at Kibum's pockets. Laughing, he pulls out a dog treat, his coat always full of something in case a patient needs a little extra convincing he doesn't mean them any harm.  

He holds it in his fist, knuckles over the sidewalk, and Roo snuffles into his hand and nibbles away at the small piece exposed. Jonghyun laughs above him, bright and amused, as he opens up an umbrella and positions it carefully. 

Kibum coos over Roo as she licks away the crumbs, and fishes around for his wallet, eventually extracting some money and thrusting it up to Jonghyun. 

"I haven't even played yet."

"For lunch," Kibum says. "Go get us lunch and I won't steal your dog for myself."

* * *

Out of the corner of his eye, Jinki sees Taemin waving Jonghyun over as soon as he enters. His throat is dry, and he imagines he can feel Kibum wandering around outside by some hyper-sensitized propioception that should be the topic of a groundbreaking study. He has never felt less prepared for a conversation in his life, including the time he told his parents he was quitting medical school to write. 

"Hi guys," Jonghyun beams as he squishes in next to Taemin. The musician leans over to kiss Taemin on the cheek, but abruptly moves away at the last second, presumably having spotted Jinki in the middle of a crisis. Taemin sulks. 

"What's wrong with you?" he puts his hand on Jinki's thigh and shakes it brazenly. "Bang your head twice on the table if it's about your hot doctor."

_bang bang_

"Oh, this is progress," Jonghyun enthuses above him. Jinki can't even be bothered to lift his head. "He wouldn't even acknowledge he existed on Saturday. Now he's  _his_ hot doctor. Jinki, I'm so proud of you!"

_bang bang ba-_

Jonghyun has thrust his hand in the space between Jinki's forehead and the wood. He blinks and raises his head up. 

"Thanks," he says, still dissociating. 

Jonghyun looks outside and makes vaguely pointed encouraging noises. 

"Absolutely not."

"What?"

"Look, this is perfect timing -"

"For what?"

" - just go outside and say hi."

"Say hi to who?" Taemin twists around to scan outside, blindly skipping over Kibum to Jinki's distracted relief. 

"No."

" _What_?" Taemin demands. 

"Key - Dr. Kim - is here," Jonghyun answers. "And Jinki should go talk to him, especially since apparently he's now _his_ hot doctor and - wait."

His eyes light up even brighter, and Jinki could swear that was a congenital condition he read about once. 

"Was this what your text was about this morning? You wanted to talk to me about Key?" 

Eyeing the cat-consuming-canary expression on Taemin's face, Jinki allows himself a tiny, restrained nod, and Jonghyun practically vibrates in excitement for a moment before deliberately taking a deep breath and calming down, something Jinki is very grateful for. 

"OK then," Jonghyun wraps his hand around Jinki's gently and lifting up his chin with his finger. "Taemin, we need a minute. Go use your coffee powers and make him a cup."

The youngest of the three of them gets up with minimal grumbling, leaving an anticipatory space in his wake.

"I'm not drinking that," Jinki says, just to say something.

"What did you want to talk about, Jinki?" Jonghyun asks, decisively ignoring away the weak diversion.

"Well..."

Jinki, for all the thoughts in his head, isn't quite sure where to start: there's why Jonghyun recommended Kibum in the first place, what he meant, exactly, in his texts; what, exactly, is his relationship to Kibum; what, exactly Kibum is doing there now; and his premature ideas of how to get to know Kibum better. He opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again, willing to go with whatever his mouth decides is good -

"Do you want to come outside with me?" Jonghyun suggests. "It's not going to be as bad as you think."

"How do you know?" Jinki asks, his tangled thoughts sharpening into singular curiosity: Jonghyun doesn't sound like he's just saying it. In general, Jonghyun isn't prone to blind, shallow reassurances, but this intended comfort sounds suspiciously like he  _knows_ something. The vague idea of what he could know that is giving him such confidence is deeply relevant to Jinki's state of mind at the moment, and, in particular, that insistent small voice. 

The diffused pinkness floating up Jonghyun's cheeks is particularly questionable. The small voice pushes it way to the front of his mind as he stares at the other man, waiting for him to come up with an answer.

_He thinks Kibum is interested in you._

"I just think, "Jonghyun says delicately. "That things could turn out better than you expect."

 _Roll up your sleeves and go outside_ , the voice becomes strident. Jinki absentmindedly begins to fiddle with the hems of his shirt, rolling it up and back over his wrist.

Without his express permission, he finds his legs unfolding and his feet positioning to get up. 

_Say hi. Ask if you can get him a cup of coffee on the house._

Or maybe tea? He seems like he would like tea. Jinki thinks, with marginally growing confidence, today could be the day he makes the best cup of tea ever. 

"Break's over," Taemin says, abruptly shoving a coffee so strong beneath Jinki's nose that he reels back and bangs his head against the glass. "Either piss or get off the pot."

He processes that Jonghyun is gasping an objection - _that Jinki was just about to_! - but the blow to the back of his head has relieved him of the strange bout of bravado. He slips a glimpse outside and spies Kibum holding Roo's head in his hands, a soft smile that warms his face. Jinki wants to feel the glow of it between his palms. 

But he has to go back to work, and he ignores Jonghyun's "wait, come on" as he gets up and puts his apron back on. 

Taemin's coffee, though, he throws right in the trash out of principle. 

* * *

 When Jonghyun comes out of the cafe, he has zero food in his possession, a disconcerted look on his face, and he's trailed by another man who looks vaguely familiar to Kibum. 

"What happened to you?" he asks, taken aback. "And where's my lunch?"

"Wow," the other man says. He laughs right in Kibum's face. "You basically  _are_ him. Now it makes sense."

"Sorry about that," Jonghyun clears his throat and ignores the other man, who's still looking over Kibum like he's a particularly esoteric curiosity. He bristles at it. "I just came out to see what you wanted?"

"It took you that long," he says disbelievingly, but he gets up regardless and moves for the door with a sigh. "I'll just look for myself."

Jonghyun shoves the blonde man in front of Kibum, causing the two to bump into each other. The confused, annoyed expression on the other's face jogs Kibum's memory even more, but it's still out of reach. He knows him from somewhere, but he's out of context, here. 

"No need. Taemin can help you."

"Taemin  _cannot_ ," the other man - Taemin - says indignantly. "Just let him go inside and get it over with."

"No, just," Jonghyun sighs. "C'mon, don't do this, Taeminnie. Please?"

Taemin heaves out an extremely put upon sigh and turns to face Kibum. Before he can say a word, Kibum interrupts. 

"Whatever this is," he waves indiscriminately at the pair. "Does this have an intermission? I just want some bibimbap. Is there bibimbap?" 

"Order up," Taemin says, snatching the money right out of Jonghyun's hand. "Thanks for the tip."

Kibum stares after him disbelievingly as Jonghyun perks up, hooking his arm around Kibum's back and trying to tug him back towards Roo and his waiting umbrella-chair combo. 

"Don't tell me that's your boyfriend, Jjong."

"...okay."

"Seriously?" he seethes, still tracing the other man's figure through the storefront window. He's moving in front of the counter, leaning over it to speak with someone he can't make out. He has Kibum's money clutched in his hand, waving it for the other figure to take. 

"He's not really - we're not really, seriously," Jonghyun says. "I'll make sure he gives you your change back, just let it go."

His seething is slowly transforming into a stew, despite Jonghyun's efforts. All he wanted this morning was to pass some time until he got some good, parasitical news, with a little food, a little music, and some good company. Instead, he gets leered at and weirdly insulted by a stranger, whose not-familiarity is making him _itch_ in the effort to identify him, and who may be stealing his money. 

Jonghyun's hand lightly lands on his back, patting soothingly, and Kibum snaps. He doesn't want to feel soothed. 

"Yeah, not today," he says, breaking off from the other man and heading for the door, ignoring Jonghyun's weirdly passionate protests. He throws the door open and goes up to the counter, ready to give a piece of his mind. Taemin turns his body to face him as the door rattles when it lands, his eyes going bright and fascinated. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kibum demands. 

Taemin looks visibly pleased with his outburst.

"I don't think I could tell you," he responds. He props up his chin with his fist, eyes rolling dramatically to the man behind the counter. "Jinki-hyung, what do you think?"

Kibum's heart fucking plummets.

* * *

 Jinki, blinking rapidly as he watches Taemin watch Kibum look at Jinki, is mentally upgrading his roommate from 'inconvenience' back to 'murder'. 

"Oh, hi, Dr. Kim," he says as casually as he can as the vet stares at him. "Did you - food? I mean - do you want to order some food?"

"Already taken care of," Taemin says brightly, reaching over the counter to clap Jinki on the shoulder. "Oh, and he was nice enough to give a tip. Right?"

Kibum seemingly comes back to awareness, and flaps away the change Jinki holds uncertainly in his hand. 

"No," he says, flustered. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," Jinki says, reaching around the till to stuff the bills into the community jar. He expects him to move away, maybe go back outside to talk to Jonghyun, but the other man just stands there, chewing on some unverbalized thought.

 _He wants to talk to you_ , the voice says with an edge of anticipation that makes the hair on the back of Jinki's neck raise.  _This isn't the office. He's seeking out time with **you**_.  

"How's Joyonghan?"

Thank God, Jinki thinks. He can handle a conversation about cats. He had practically been training for it for five years. 

"Good."

A conversation is defined as an exchange of words, he makes a game attempt at self-justification. Words were exchanged successfully. 

"What about Joyonghan's owner?" the other man asks, a hint of a smile hovering around his lips. The small movement is unfair: the slight angle that hints at laugh lines that must outline his cheeks delicately when he lets himself really smile is a dirty, underhand sneak attack that leaves Jinki's brain reeling as though concussed. 

"Who?" he asks.

Kibum's smile widens so suddenly his heart stutters because it's better than he imagined, his whole face is pinned and balancing on his lips, his teeth, his mouth. 

"You?" he says, laughing. "How are you?"

Oh. 

"I'm fine," he responds, wincing at how boring that answer sounds even to him. "Working."

"I can see that," Kibum's smile has faded a little, but the amusement is still sparking in his eyes, and Jinki feels bizarrely light, like he's dehydrated and dizzy and - he should probably take a seat. He curses the store for putting all the seats out for customers. What a dumb policy. 

The silence sits for a moment before he blurts out - 

"What are you doing here? I mean, - aren't you - working? Saving lives?"

Kibum laughs, a little smaller this time, a little more self-deprecating, and Jinki has to fight the urge to just - run his fingers over the lines of his mouth. Since that would be super inappropriate, he refrains. 

"I think the closest I got to life-saving today was refilling the lobby treats."

"Still important," Jinki says, a little too sincerely even to his ears. "Joyonghan loves those."

"He loves dog treats?" 

"He likes...treats. In general? You know," he stutters. "Food. I meant - the way to a stomach is through the heart, right? If a pet is scared, you're already trying to help them. First thing. Just - walking in and you're already doing what you can before you get to examine them."

He ducks his head as he trails off, Kibum watching him curiously.

"I'll have some treats for him, then," he says firmly. "On Wednesday."

Jinki looks up and Kibum looks - well, he looks a little pink around the ears. Jinki stares in wonder, and the voice is crowing because -  _because he_ - 

Taemin appears at his shoulder with a carton that he thrusts at Kibum. 

"Food's ready."

* * *

Kibum is having more violent urges in the last half-hour than he's had in the last year, because of one man. The photo of Taemin with Joyonghan and Jinki's hand is now clear and fresh in his mind, when he really could have used it five minutes ago.  

"Thanks," he says as he takes the dish. "I'll take a seat."

"Outside, right?" Taemin says. "Because of Jonghyun. And how you came to see him."

Kibum steals a glance at Jinki, who's busily adjusting the stack of cups that don't seem to be in peril of falling over at all. 

"Right," he slowly says, talking himself down from the light flirting. He wasn't planning on being too forward with jinki anyway, and as promising as this was - his heart still feels oddly off-skew - he shouldn't get overconfident. "Thanks. And I'll see you on Wednesday, treats in hand."

"Looking forward to it," Jinki says. "Fingers crossed for a good poop."

He looks  _mortified_ as soon as the words leave his mouth, and Kibum has to bite his lip to stop from laughing as he turns to head outside. 

* * *

"You're welcome," Taemin says, as Jinki steadies himself with a white-knuckle grip of the sandwich cooler. 

 "What?"

"For getting him to come inside, so you could talk to him," Taemin looks incredulous that he even has to explain. "You clearly like him. And he thinks you're cute."

"... _what_ ," he says weakly. 

"I mean, that's just obvious," he mutters to his phone. "Have to be blind not to see that...see?"

He thrusts the device into Jinki's face, the dangerously high level of brightness instantly making him wince. 

_@taeinthemirror: how much does the good doctor want to ride jinki's d_

_@jjongd: cannot say!_

_@taeinthemirror: don't respond if it's a lot_

"That was a few minutes ago," Taemin says to Jinki's non-processing face. "He hasn't been playing anything between then and now, and Kibum's been in here so. Go ask him into the bathroom for some stall sex. Or, just aim a little lower. Ask him out."

The phone is still in his face, the  **read** note clear and unmistakeable. 

Jinki takes a deep breath and sets his jaw determinedly. 

"I'm going to take the trash out."

* * *

The half-full trash bag held in a slightly sweaty grip swings back and forth as Jinki stares, dismayed, into the street.

"Oh," Jonghyun softly says, stopping his warm-up chords. "He left, hyung. Got an urgent text."

Jinki wanders over to him, not sure what to say. His excuse to come outside seems exceedingly dumb in retrospect. There's some undefined juice splattering by his shoes. 

Before he can chip some response off the lump rock of disappointment in his throat, Taemin comes out. 

"Don't worry, hyung," he says, clapping Jinki on the shoulder. "I'm sure there's a cot at the office you two can bounce on on Wednesday."

* * *

_@minhoooooal:_ _lab results are in_

_@minhoooooal: doctor kim_

_@minhoooooal: if you don't get back in the next 5 minutes i will open them_

_@offki: you're fired_

Kibum pauses around the corner from the clinic entrance, steadying his breath with singular purpose. 

When he walks in, Minho snorts. 

"Did you run?"

"Did you need this job?" he retorts, snatching the offered envelope from his hand and tearing it open. He sends a quick, giddy prayer up, because just the brief conversation with Jinki at the cafe had been promising, even with the interruptions. The seeds were planted, the leaves were sprouting, now he just needed a little bit of parasitical infection fertilizer.

_Joyonghan (Lee Jinki) - **Negative**_

"Well, shit," says Minho over his shoulder. "Pun intended."

Kibum hits him. 


	3. Tuesday and Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinki has to believe he's thinking over this new information rationally, but his brain feels like very panicked oatmeal. Very panicked oatmeal trying to deal with the prospect of a reciprocated crush.

"So what are you going to wear?"

 "...."

"Nothing? Bold statement, but I like it. Definitely makes an impression."

 Jinki taps his pen against the notepad and continues to pretend he's listening to music and can't hear Taemin's suggestions. 

 "I bet you there's eau de catnip somewhere. Put some behind your ear and let him sniff you."

 "...."

"Wear a little bell and collar."

 "..."

"We could make a pet tag for you in advance. So when you confess you can have a prop."

 Jinki stifles the urge to sigh, knowing it would acknowledge that he could hear Taemin, and only perversely encourage him. The sky is only just starting to brighten for the opening shift, and in a few minutes they'll have to turn on the music, and open the doors for the similarly tired and world-weary looking for some kind of stimulant. How and why Taemin is using his dark, inhuman wakefulness for a constant patter of teasing at this hour is something Jinki won't deal with until he absolutely has to. 

Hopefully, at that point, there will be customers and, equally hopefully, at that point Taemin would have to resort to texting his teasing, which is easier to ignore. 

Taemin flings himself into the limited counter space Jinki is using and tugs his earbud out, glee filling his next suggestion. 

"You could shape Joyonghan's shit into a heart. Romantic, right?"

"You know we don't have a suggestion box for a reason."

Taemin shrugs and pulls the notepad out from beneath his leg, expectation on his face turning rapidly into disappointment. He shakes it in Jinki's face before dropping it. 

"This is terrible poetry."

"It's the inventory."

"Still terrible. Who's going to get wooed over coffee filters? Think about your available options. We sell bananas too. "

Jinki has been doing his absolute best for the last 16 hours to avoid this topic and think about it in reasonable, quiet times, but it seems like he has had zero of that since meeting Kibum. He wonders, blackly, if this is a portent of any future relationship they have. 

If they have a future relationship. Taemin, in his own strange way, certainly seems optimistic about it. 

"Go pick the music, please," he offers for a temporary reprieve. Taemin lights up and goes to the back, and Jinki breathes a little easier. 

The cafe is bright and clean, the windows are drawn up, and all that's left is to turn the light on. It's just like the day before, except now he has a running countdown clock until he sees Kibum again. Whether it's an ominous countdown clock, or an excited one, his stomach still hadn't settled on it. It seemed either one resulted in a loss of appetite. 

He replayed their last interaction the day before in lieu of sleep. It had resulted in a level of tired truly unknowable and incomprehensible, but he couldn't persuade himself to not do it. He had played over every potentiality for behavior: his own, Kibum's, even Joyonghan's.

He had run through the possibility of Kibum rejecting him, Kibum suddenly becoming allergic to cats, Joyonghan setting fire to the building (in that, he had had a flame at the end of his tail), and even the outlandish possibility of an unexpected coma taking him in the middle of confessing. 

(In that one, Kibum had waited by his insensate side for about 5 minutes before adopting Joyonghan and moving to the countryside.)

His final, exhausted thought that bled into his dreams, was the one where Kibum asked him out. The sleep he had gotten, fueled by that lucky final thought, was undisturbed, up until the alarm 2 hours later. 

When he flips on the OPEN sign and unlocks the door, he takes in the cool, damp air and closes his eyes against it gratefully. The morning mist is so thick he can feel the droplets of moisture landing on his skin. Struck by the feeling, and knowing it was his only opportunity, he wriggles his phone out and takes a photo of it, the neon sign being licked by small curling tendrils. 

In a fit of pique after snapping, he steps outside into it, shivering, and turns the front-facing camera on. He cranes his head back and shakes it gently before coming back up and taking a photo of himself, head tilted to the side so his hair fans out, damp and messy. 

The music, settling into a selection after a few minutes of headache-inducing tuning, comes on loud and Jinki quickly posts the photos before tucking his phone back into his jeans, ready to scold Taemin for blasting the volume before most people could even form words. 

* * *

"What the fuck," Kibum heartily whispers into his phone. He leans against the sink for strength. 

He had been scrolling through his various feeds and pulled up IG, idly checking Jinki's account for any updates. The first photo that popped up was a moody mist-filled view from the cafe. It made him picture the man sleepy and tired, cutely rubbing at his eyes as he puttered around preparing for the day. 

Noticing it was a multi-photo post, he swiped right, expecting another view of the street.

Instead, what he has before him is Jinki, eyes closed dreamily, drops of dew highlighted along his jaw from the streetlight. His hair is dotted with moisture as well, swung loose across his shoulder, practically inviting someone to run his fingers through it. His lips are slightly parted, his tongue just slightly visible as if to taste the condensation. 

He hasn't even turned the shower on yet, so it is absolutely unreasonable for Kibum to feel steam caressing his skin intimately. He puts down the phone, only slightly shakily, his thumb sliding across the still active screen.

The hot water pulses over him, the rivulets streaming down his bare back, and he tries to ignore his brain helpfully imagining Jinki joining him to warm up. 

When he rubs shampoo into his hair, he closes his eyes. When his fingers catch in the small tangles, it's easier to imagine it's Jinki who is carefully, tenderly fixing it, before running his own hands through it just for the sensation. 

He groans to himself. Leaning against the wall, he stares down accusingly at his suddenly alert dick. 

He really does not have time for this, but the fantasy of Jinki being in his shower becomes more detailed: a familiar, comfortable portrait, where the other man patiently lets Kibum move him until he stands beneath the showerhead, the spray sending his hair to flop over his eyes; Kibum pushing it away from his face, revealing Jinki smiling at him with nothing but affection and love in his eyes as he draws him into a kiss. 

Maybe he doesn't have time, but that picture has sent him into a spiral he isn't alert enough to resist. He braces himself against the wall, closes his eyes, and imagines it's Jinki's hand wrapping hungry fingers around his waiting dick. 

* * *

Jinki's phone buzzes with a notification soon after he posts the photos, but with the cafe officially open he doesn't have time to check it. So, when Taemin asks him to call his phone, because he misplaced it again, somewhere in between running back and forth from the kitchen to the tables, he doesn't think twice about opening it in front of the younger man. 

 **doc_and_key** _l_ _iked your photo_

He closes it as fast as he can, but Taemin is turning incredulous eyes to him, and the damage is done. His cheeks are stone cold traitors with their pinkness. 

Taemin's phone rings somewhere in the dining room, but the man stays glued to Jinki's side. 

"No," Jinki says. He pries himself loose as the door rings with a customer entering. Greeting the woman, he can only ignore Taemin the best he can as he goes through the transaction while his heart beats a stutter-stop rhythm in his chest.

When Jinki gives her the small coffee, Taemin sweeps in, tapping at his phone screen insistently, as though the rhythm will draw Jinki in. 

It works, but he doesn't have to admit that to anyone. He has a right to confer with his coworkers. 

"Did you create an account just for this?" he asks disbelievingly as Taemin pulls up the app. 

"Well, you weren't doing anything."

Jinki grouses, but doesn't look away as Taemin scrolls down. There's some photos of (his stomach grumbles) delicious-looking food; a couple of Kibum, one of which has receptionist, Minho, making a face in the background. There's one of Jonghyun playing outside the cafe that makes Jinki wonder if that was some time before this week, if their paths had come closer than he had imagined. When Taemin goes to the next picture, Jinki finds himself looking at two small dogs, sleeping against what must be Kibum's legs.  

There's an interminable amount of distress filling his senses at the innocent photo. Jinki doesn't have a problem with dogs, but Joyonghan by and large does. Even the calmest of the calm raises Joyonghan's ire, and drowning while standing dry-bone in a cafe feels like a distinct possibility when Taemin goes to the next post and finds it a video, the two dogs pulling against a leash eagerly as Kibum laughs, high-pitched, in the background.

Maybe this was the ultimate portent, he concludes as a customer calls for help and Taemin turns away - it wasn't his anxiety getting the better of him, it was a warning from the universe that he was crushing on a dog person. For all he knows, those small innocent fuzzy faces hid viciously cat-baiting instincts. 

He goes back to what he should be doing: working, mechanically smiling, and not thinking about Kibum. 

The listlessness manages to carry him all the way to lunch, when he goes for a walk so he doesn't have to talk about this with Taemin. It's also so he can submit to the siren call of his own phone without interruption.  It's bound to betray him as well, but he can't help it. 

He pulls up  **doc_and_key**  - _Key > Kibum _- and forces himself to look at the photos. Little pin-stabs of pain prick against his soft parts when he goes over the ones clearly taken at Kibum's home: a view out the window, his fingers tracing the condensation; a boiling pot of pasta; his socked feet, toes stretched and just touching a pair of trendy shoes; his dogs curled up at his side.

The last one is captioned "embarrassing kids". The pin-stab of pain turns into a gut punch.

They were his _kids_. Joyonghan was Jinki's kid. Parents couldn't be selfish and date if their kids didn't get along.  

The phone having achieved its singular goal of hurting him, he lets himself process its contents for a few minutes and work through his thoughts. They feel like they're sloshing right out of his head as he points his walk back towards the cafe. 

* * *

 Jonghyun is on the last verse of one of Jinki's favorite songs when he waves him down, waiting as patiently as he can manage for the musician to wrap up and politely request a break of his attendant audience. 

He sits at the driest chair as Jonghyun settles in, all smiles to Jinki's quiet solemnity.

Carefully and reverently, Jinki puts his phone on the table between them, the photo of Kibum's kids pulled up.

It takes a moment for Jonghyun to go "oh" and look at him sympathetically. A flash of irritation rushes over Jinki at the sudden thought that Jonghyun likely knew about the dogs and still tried his hand at matchmaking. But he can't find it in himself to hold onto the upset, because Jinki's the one who went and was dumb enough to crush on someone without knowing their pet situation. 

Still, he pulls himself together, because in the course of a 15-minute grief cycle he's found a course of action within himself. As awkward as he once found it, he has to pull at the string of questions if he's truly considering a situation that, if not examined critically angle by angle, could put his beloved cat in peril. 

He should probably have just done this earlier and simplified the whole matter.

"Did you date?" he asks. 

"What? No..." Jonghyun answers, eyebrows knitting together, confused.

"No or _no_?" he stresses the question on the second one, watching his face carefully for any betrayal. He's not expecting it at all when the other man goes from confusion to amusement, his nose crinkling as he giggles. 

"God, in the same place too -"

Jinki looks at him, expressionless, and Jonghyun takes pity on him. 

"No, we didn't date. We - me and Roo - started going to his office a few months ago. We're friends."

The most uncomfortable question is ejected violently from Jinki's mouth.

"Were you trying to set us up?"

Jonghyun's face takes on a vaguely awkward cast before it flutters off, replaced with abashed resolution. 

"Sort of."

Jinki's nerve ends seem to have migrated up his throat, so high he can taste it and he has to clear his voice around their fragmented ends.

"Did you think I needed help?"

"Jinki," Jonghyun says softly. "Of course not-"

"I do," he says suddenly, a dry throat making his next word slightly raspy and slightly pathetic to his ears. "So - um. Help."

Jonghyun blinks, and slowly reaches out to brush Jinki's hair out of his eyes. There's some dust across the top of his cheekbone that Jonghyun wipes carefully away as well. His words come out weighted down with sincerity and affection. 

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. No, you don't."

Jinki stares at him incomprehensibly.

"I just had a feeling that you two would get along, that's all. He's kind of," he sighs, a small smile gracing his features as he gestures one way. "And you're - " he gestures the other way. "So he needs someone out there - " he tips to the left and right like he's a scale balancing out. "And you could do with someone over there. It doesn't matter if you two ended up being friends or friends with benefits or boyfriends. Seemed like you both could use each other."

"Then - why not just ask him to come out here?"

"I  _did_! But did he ever come out, no, he just stalled and stalled and finally, you mentioned needing a vet, and," he shrugs. "It seemed like an opportunity. But really, Jinki - you have to believe me. I didn't do this out of pity or anything like that. I just thought you two would be better off knowing each other."

Jinki looks at his hands for a long time, how they fiddle and fit into one another and have, for a long time, only had each other.

"But you sent me a winky face," he says, weakly, pointing at his phone. "You asked me what I thought, with a winky face. That doesn't seem very platonic."

His friend's face colors a pretty pink. 

"Well, I had my preferences for how it turned out. I'm sorry it pressured you."

He waves away the apology, knowing full well in retrospect he was already heedlessly doomed by that point. A few of his questions addressed, he sits and lets the sounds rush over him. The next question sounds forlorn even to his ears.

"What about his dogs? Are they nice?"

"The nicest."

"Okay....okay."

Jinki has to believe he's thinking over this new information rationally, but his brain feels like very panicked oatmeal - very panicked oatmeal trying to deal with the prospect of a reciprocated crush that could work out, pets included.

"I should go back to work," he finally says. "Thanks." 

"OK," Jonghyun says, before continuing cautiously. "Before you do - do you remember what I said yesterday?"

Jinki remembers a lot of internalized screaming, but he thinks that would be worrying to say, so he goes with "Not really" instead. 

"I said - that things could turn out better than you expect," Jonghyun looks at him steadily. "So - just keep that in mind."

Thinking of Taemin's text, and Jonghyun's lack of text, and Kibum choosing to talk to him, the blush on his face, his promise to bring Joyonghan's treat - Jinki has a balloon going up, but it's simultaneously tugged down by his own anxiety and concerns about the historical precedent of cats v. dogs, and Joyonghan v. most living things. But Jonghyun is endorsing the dogs, and Jinki is at last conceding what he _wants_ \- Kibum to smile at him, to catch the glow of his happiness and be the cause of it. He wants cheesy photos of the two of them.

He wants to make toast for Kibum. 

"I'm trying," he says, quite honestly. "I am."

Jonghyun smiles at him. 

"Good," he pinches Jinki's cheek and shoos him. "Now go. Rescue those poor people from Taemin's coffee. But," he holds out his hands as Jinki gets up. "Keep the lovestruck look - it's really good on you."

* * *

Wednesdays are one odd duck of a day, but today is an odd-duck loving kind of day for Kibum. If an actual weird  _Anatidae_ waddled into the office this morning, he would be downright tickled and take as many photos as possible.  

Because - this weird day has no intestinal parasites, but it has the promised appearance of a very sweet, very cute pet parent, who is going to catch Kibum looking as nice as he can when there's an ample amount of bodily fluids just waiting for an opportunity to land on him. He can't put on anything too scented, because of the sensitivity of various animals - and it would betray his own senses - but he had done his best, enough to get Minho biting his lip to restrain the comment. Unscented moisturizer is his best friend.

There is very little to dampen his mood. He has charm, he has grace, and he has a bag full of cat treats stashed away in his locker for strategic deployment. All he needs to do is keep himself occupied with work so that the time passes quickly. 

"Your turn," he tells Minho around noon, flapping his hands towards the door. 

Minho raises his eyebrow at him.

"Are you sure? Today's - " he cuts himself off as Kibum glares. "Today's a normal day in which you might enjoy a nice walk, because there is nothing of note happening here."

Kibum refuses, shaking his head emphatically. It had been a very real temptation that morning - instead of pre-occupying himself with nice daydreams, he could swing by and see the real deal, his fingers nervous and soft as they drummed against the counter.

The last thought of the temptation had been how cute Jinki would look eating a cookie, but Kibum has phenomenal willpower when he puts his mind to it, especially when it could potentially wreck his slow-burn flirtation plan. 

He could use that as justification, but no one needs to know that Jinki works at the cafe, especially not Minho, who has never even gone there for food and would never let Kibum hear the end of it. 

"Just go," he says, fluttering his hands towards the door without glancing away from his phone. "And don't forget the drinks."

Minho backs out of the lobby, his hands facing each other as he imitates one squawking at the other, the other hand cringing away. 

Kibum flips him off, and Minho cheerfully returns it. 

The emptiness of the lobby fills up his senses once Minho gets out of the view of the windows. He shakes his head slightly, trying to regain his focus. Jinki's - Joyonghan's - appointment isn't until the early evening and he has to have some semblance of patience.

He wonders, absently, if Jinki is having any of the same problems. He can only assume that he is working today, though he supposed that he could have a half-day. If there was - his fingers twitch towards his phone - there's a possibility he's updated his instagram. It couldn't hurt to look, he tells himself. He settles into Minho's chair and pulls out his phone. 

The red heart beneath Jinki's latest photoset nearly makes him drop it. 

It's a stupid, novice mistake, and one worse for the fact he can't figure out when he did it. But he clearly he  _did_ , and he doesn't have time to mull over the how when there's damage control to be executed. 

Thinking rapidly, he clicks through to the other accounts who've liked it, hoping against hope that he's not the odd name out, that perhaps Jinki somehow has a bevy of followers he doesn't know personally. To his dismay, there are only five names besides his, and a quick scroll through his other photos shows them to be frequent, familiar commenters. 

He's officially Jinki's instagram creep, with the worst timing, only a few hours - at least a day, he cringes to realize - before a potentially singular opportunity to move along the low-pressure flirting. He wonders, a pinch desperately, at how he's not blocked yet - how that might be a good sign of his creeping not being creepy. But that small hope is butting up against everything he knows about Jinki: that he's a little shy, a little awkward, a little private. He's certainly doesn't seem like the kind of person who wants semi-strangers stalking his personal photos before they've even so much hung out together. 

A frustrated sigh escapes him. He has to get back on the path on correcting such a dumb mistake. He could text Jonghyun, who may know if Jinki has been put off by this. There's even a small chance Jinki doesn't check his accounts too often, which would square with his impression. But barring more potential privacy violations, he doesn't really know  _anything_. 

Although - he could know something, if he can swallow his pride. He pulls up his texts with an unfathomable sense of resignation. 

 _@offki:_ _where are you_

_@minhoooooal: ramyeon_

_@offki: not anymore. go here._

He forwards the cafe's address. 

_@offki: don't talk to anyone except jonghyun._

_@minhoooooal: but y_

Kibum is in physical pain. 

 _@offki_ :  _lee jinki works there_

 _@offki: i need you to see if he's acting weird. ask jonghyun if he's said anything_. 

@ _minhoooooal: fuck yeah_

_@ _minhoooooal:_ MY TIME IS NOW_

_@minhoooooal: thank you for letting me be part of this it is a treasure_

_@minhoooooal: r u sure i can't talk to him??_

_@minhoooooal: what if he talks to me_

_@minhoooooal: do i flee the scene_

@ _minhoooooal: he will recognize me. im very tall_

_@minhoooooal: in case you weren't aware. somehow._

_@offki: you have two cm on me. please get over yourself_

_@offki: if he says anything just play dumb_

_@offki: ie be yourself_

_@minhoooooal: rude but i forgive you for this is a mission of love_

_@_ _minhoooooal: radio silence. target is in sight._

He has to put his phone away for his own personal sanity at this point. He doesn't have an appointment to concentrate on, so he gets up to pace the hall, shoes squeaking against the linoleum. The closet, he thinks victoriously. The closet could use organizing. 

Boxes of surgical gloves are providing his own personal fort of distraction when his phone buzzes; his haste to extract it brings the whole construct tumbling down, and sends a stack of file folders cascading across the floor like an angular trail of beige vomit. Kibum doesn't care, sitting back on the floor as he stares at his phone apprehensively. 

@ _minhoooooal: not here._

_@minhoooooal: met his roommate tho_

_@minhoooooal: taemin?_

_@offki: please do not tell me you talked to him_

_@minhoooooal: i did not talk to him_

_@minhoooooal: i talked to jonghyun who was talking to him_

_@offki: why are you such an idiot_

_@minhoooooal: i am an idiot with lunch_

_@minhoooooal:  and jonghyun says hi_

Kibum is, objectively speaking, in a right funk when Minho gets back. He explains his sordid problem over an entirely too dejected sandwich. 

"Okay, so his appointment is in five -" Minho says thoughtfully.

"Four."

"Four hours," Minho finishes. "I don't know what else you can do."

"You're so helpful. I'm really glad I shared this with you."

"Did you think that you might not have to do anything? Just - don't mention it to him when he comes in. Play it cool."

"You have no idea how embarrassing this is," Kibum sniffs.

"Yeah, because I wouldn't be so dumb," he responds, ignoring Kibum's glare. "Look, this is only a problem if he says it is. You haven't even talked to him since then."

"I'm such an idiot," he mutters. 

The doorbell rings, and Minho gets up and clasps Kibum by the shoulder, holding onto it until the other man finally looks up. 

"Don't give up," he offers sincerely. "Maybe he's into idiots."

* * *

The afternoon passes very, very slowly. 

Jinki hugs the pet carrier to his chest and looks up at the bright, shining letters for the clinic. He takes a deep breath, opening the door with his hip and nodding a greeting to the receptionist, Minho - and he trips when he doesn't lift his foot high enough over the sill, sending Joyonghan in his carrier skidding across the floor, banging his knees painfully against the hard floor. 

"Whoa, hey," he hears a deep voice coming at him, and large hands are gently helping him up. Blinking back, he finds himself being placed on one of the waiting chairs before Minho approaches the spitting, unhappy Joyonghan. 

"He's just - " he starts, worry and concern cutting him off when Minho places the carrier in his lap. He bunches up his knees through the pain so to balance it and flips open the door. Joyonghan is backed into the corner, pupils blown wide and muscles tense. 

"It's okay, it's okay," he coos, wanting to reach in, let him know he's still there, that he doesn't have anything to worry about, but he knows better than that. His stomach flip-flops in guilt, that his distraction caused even more upset. 

"Here," another voice comes from above him. 

Kibum, framed by the fluorescent lights, is a backlit angel with cat treats. Jinki stares uncomprehendingly up at him, because his knees hurt, his cat is in distress, and his brain is instead focusing on how deep and warm Kibum's eyes are when they're gazing down at him. The longer they linger on Jinki, the warmer and itchier his sweater feels. 

"Um," Minho says. "Seems like you have this under control, Dr. Kim. So I'll just...okay."

Jinki reaches up to pluck the proffered treat - their fingers brush, and as Kibum withdraws, he just skims his skin, and it's super soft. He tries to remember if they shook hands last time, and if it was that soft last time, or if he did something special that makes his skin feels like a lotion commercial sounds. With a soft thanks, he pushes it inside the carrier for Joyonghan to nibble at, teeth grazing the edges of his fingertips. When he takes it completely, Jinki rub comfortingly beneath his ears and lets him reposition his weight even though where he ultimately chooses to plop puts pressure right on Jinki's tender knees. He manages to hold back a whimper and winces instead. 

Kibum's gaze, still locked onto Jinki, breaks a tiny bit. He lifts up his eyebrows as he extends his hand towards the handle, in a wordless question. Jinki hastens to cooperate, eager to move out of this moment before he says something stupid. He lets Joyonghan push his head against his hand one last time, gratified to feel the smallest vibration of a purr as he strokes his hand up his skull and down his neck to his back. When he extracts his hand, it's with relief that he latches the door shut. Kibum lifts it up and turns back to face Minho. 

Minho, Jinki can't help but notice, suddenly looks very busy shuffling papers and isn't looking at the pair of them, but as soon as Kibum passes him, he shoots Jinki a quick thumbs-up.

Blinking back surprise, he follows Kibum into the exam room. 

"So," Kibum starts, gently setting the carrier on the counter. He takes a beige folder from the cabinet and opens it, splaying his hand over it so he can rotate for Jinki's benefit. Jinki fiddles with the hem of his sweater. His nerves feel like they're free-floating beneath his skin and his small voice is antsy in his chest. "The test-"

"Do you have dogs?" Jinki interrupts in a rush. 

Kibum's hand stills. The air seems to pause and Jinki hastens to fill in the silence. 

"I'm sorry," he says; he can feel his face heating at his own impatience. "I - you handle Joyonghan so well. Thought maybe you had that at home."

He is such a bad liar. It makes no sense - why ask about dogs when there's only ever been a cat between them? And Kibum can obviously tell it's a poor excuse - he looks incredulous as Jinki bites his lip in embarrassment. 

"Yes," he says. "Two dogs."

"Do you," he plows ahead over the confirmation, because he might as well, he's already broken the conversational condom. "Do you like cats?"

Kibum, to his relief, laughs. 

"Yes," he answers, unlatching Joyonghan's carrier and dangling another treat to lure him out. "I had one a few years ago, but she passed away."

Jinki just barely manages to tamp down on the instinctual "great!" at the revelation that Kibum has owned a cat, likely successfully with his dogs. Even if Kibum is into him, he feels like reacting enthusiastically to a deceased pet would be a irredeemable misstep.

Having managed a fumbling recovery from the initial interruption, he's starting to feel unseemly levels of bright with encouragement, like a filament is overloading behind his ribcage. It just as much burns out of his courage, letting Kibum fuss over Joyonghan without comment. 

"As I was saying," Kibum continues. "The test has come back and it's good news. Joyonghan is clean. Barring eating whatever caused the issue in the first place again, you shouldn't be seeing any more issues."

 "Oh! Good - " he starts, genuinely pleased, until that small voice flails for his attention, screeching  _no more appointments!_ , and his voice falters midway through. Joyonghan plaintively meows when Kibum strokes his back.

 _Same_ , he thinks towards Joyonghan. The cat flickers his tail at him in what seems like sympathy.  

"Yes," Kibum says, beckoning Jinki closer with a wave of his hand, pointing down at the good-bad news report. "See, right here..."

Jinki's only half-listening when he shuffles over, because as consequence of the motion their shoulders are brushing. Joyonghan is staring at him - at them. He can feel the emotional pressure to do something lying heavy at the back of his tongue, but it's frozen and dry at the sheer proximity.

"...Mr. Lee?" Kibum is saying, inquisitive and concerned at Jinki's apparent sudden-onset muteness. He's blinking, his eyes dark with concern, or possibly wariness. Jinki's doomed either way. 

"Jinki," he says, his voice slightly strangled as his priorities shift violently. "Jinki is fine."

He has really good new priorities, he concludes, because a pleased, soft look takes over the vet's face.  Kibum shifts his weight as he straightens up. 

"Then Kibum is fine too," he says kindly.

"Not Key?" he blurts. Kibum tilts his head.

"It is, but I don't believe I've told you that," he says, and that's definite wariness in his eyes now. 

"You - um. You didn't. But - " Jinki can either disclose Jonghyun or that he's played accomplice to social media stalking, but both seem bad. He gathers up Joyonghan and hugs him close to his chest, grateful for the irritated claws digging into his chest. The pain lessens his ability to panic.

But Kibum is bolder than Jinki, because he gets there first.

"You must have seen that I liked your photo - photos," he corrects. "I hope it didn't bother you. It was beautifully taken."

Jinki should just say thanks, like a normal person.

What comes out of his mouth instead is a sincerely curious "Why would it bother me?"

Kibum looks pink around the ears again, _just like he did on Monday,_ the voice crows, but he seems to be chewing on his words.

"I'm glad," Jinki fills in the space when Kibum doesn't say anything. "That you liked it. And it's not private. So - that's bound to happen, nowadays. People finding you online. I don't think it can even be considered creepy anymore when everyone does it."

Not that _he_ does, but Jinki doesn't say it.

It would also be a deeply poor excuse when Taemin does his dirty work for him. 

"I can understand if it put you off," Kibum says, with a small touch of apology in his voice.

"It didn't," Jinki says, quick to assure with a fervent shake of his head. His hair falls a little in his face and he blows a puff of air that pushes it away and shows Kibum to be smiling right at him, sweet and small. It goes straight to his head like a shot.

"Because it was you."

* * *

Kibum stares at Jinki's resolute, red-encroaching face.

"Because it was me?" he repeats back the other man's words, only semi-faintly to his relief. It requires both clarification and confirmation that they were, in fact, words that had been spoken. 

Joyonghan crawls up Jinki's chest and sits proudly on his shoulder, his tail curling around and tickling beneath his owner's chin. Jinki doesn't even seem to notice, taking in a deep breath that puffs out his chest distractingly. 

"I mean - " Joyonghan burrows his head against Jinki's ear. "We're not really strangers, are we? You've been helping Joyonghan."

"Right..." he says. 

"And we were talking the other day, too - "

"Yeah," Kibum says, his rapidly inflated hope slowly, painfully deflating. 

"And...you're very - "

He reaches up to pet Joyonghan, his motions edgy as he trails off. His eyes look slightly hunted.  

"I like coming here," he says finally. "Joyonghan does too. It's nice and all, but it's all because of you."

"Thank you," he cautiously responds. Kibum has a few things he wants to say, but Jinki looks like he's on a verbal precipice and he's not sure if saying something will ruin whatever is happening.

"And that doesn't happen often for - either of us. Doctors being nice to him. Listening to me. So thank you for...that whole thing. You're a really good doctor."

"Thank you," Kibum murmurs, touched. He dips his head silently as Joyonghan begins to chew on Jinki's hair. The other man doesn't seem quite finished yet. 

"Do you - I don't think this is going to come around right," Jinki says, half to himself and frustrated.

The whole rapid inflation of hope process takes place again, right in Kibum's chest. 

"Can I make you some tea? At the cafe? You didn't get any last time, but - "

"Yes."

Jinki grins, wide and pleased, anxiety visibly falling off his face, and Kibum feels wholly wrong-footed. His low-key drawn-out plan has suddenly and unexpectedly self-shortened, and Jinki is smiling potently and sweetly right at him. He's not  _complaining_ , exactly, but it's definitely outside the most optimistic outlook. 

He might as well push his luck. 

"You're my last appointment of the day, actually," Kibum clears his throat. "If you don't already have plans."

"Oh," Jinki says. 

Joyonghan jumps off Jinki's shoulder and promptly begins to hack up a hairball right at Kibum's feet. 

Kibum ignores Jinki's flustered apologies, grabbing the paper towels and mopping up. Jinki drops to his knees, with Joyonghan between him. 

"I'm so sorry," he says again, pulling the now-vomit free cat into his lap and nervously stroking him. 

"It's fine, really," Kibum says. "I've seen much worse."

He has, but he can't help but feel his decision to push luck is what has resulted in a pale yellow soaking through the towels, instead of an accepted invitation for a quasi-date. 

"He never does that."

"Really?" Kibum says. "Convenient he's here then. Has he had a normal appetite? Is he being less active?"

"No, nothing strange," Jinki says, his brow furrowed together. "And his poop has been fine."

"Somehow we keep circling back to that," Kibum says, laughing. He hears Jinki huff a quiet laugh as well. "He's most likely fine then." He gets up to throw away the paper towels and turns around, finds Jinki cradling Joyonghan to his chest again. 

"I'd like that," Jinki says sheepishly. "For you to come."

At Kibum's raised eyebrow, he hurries to clarify.

"To the cafe. With me, I mean. If you want to."

"Let me clean up," Kibum says, stripping off his gloves efficiently, hyperconscious of how Jinki is watching his every motion and how he probably has regurgitated hair on his sleeves. "Can you wait a few minutes?"

"Yes, of course. I'll - we'll wait in the lobby."

* * *

 Jinki has to put his head between his knees for a few minutes. 

"Are you OK?" Minho calls from his desk. 

"Oh, I'm fine," he says to the floor. "Just breathing."

There's a clatter of steps, and a pair of feet in front of Jinki's head. 

"That's a good habit," Minho says carefully and cautiously. "Did the appointment go well?"

A disbelieving laugh comes out Jinki's mouth as he nods. 

"I think I have a date."

"Please excuse me for a moment," Minho says overly carefully. Jinki watches his shoes back up, with the undeniable impression he's pushing down on the urge to run. "Ring the bell if you or Joyonghan need anything."

* * *

 The door bangs open. 

"I can't believe you fucking asked him out," Minho rounds the corner and stares at Kibum with too much glee in his face.

Kibum makes a grab for his phone, but the other man holds it high above his head, grinning wildly. 

"What did I even tell you," he crows, following Kibum as he turns with a huff to stuff his things back in his bag. "He's totally into hopeless idiots and you didn't have anything to worry about. Did you scare him into going out with you?"

"He asked  _me_ out, you dolt."

Kibum suddenly finds himself being lifted into the air from Minho's back hug, high-pitched laughter ringing right in his ear. 

" _Put me **down**_."

"I can only do that physically," Minho says, failing at keeping his face straight. "I can't help it if you float up to your own private cloud with your  _boyfriend_."

"He's not my boyfriend," he says, waspish as he can to cover up pleasure. 

" _ **Yet**_ ," Minho insists. He eyes Kibum's hair critically and reaches out a hand, only to pull it back as Kibum slaps at it. 

"...I'm not going to get ahead of myself."

"Okay, Bummie," Minho says placidly, the wide grin visible even in the reflection when Kibum turns away from him. "Have fun with your not-boyfriend."

Kibum sniffs dismissively, trying and failing to hide his smile as Minho gets in one last side-hug before heading for the door.

* * *

 Jinki is very thankful that he stopped breathing between his legs only a moment before Kibum comes out, a bag slung over his shoulder. It's primarily because he stopped breathing again at the sight of him. He scrambles to get up.

"Are we walking?" Kibum asks curiously. 

"Oh," Jinki says blankly. "I drove. But if you want to walk, I don't mind."

"But you'd have to walk back here to get it."

"I don't mind."

Kibum looks amused downwards, and Joyonghan meows. 

"Neither does he. He likes the fresh air."

Jinki is grateful for Kibum's accepting nod - it's a little surprised, but once again he believes Jinki's knowledge about his cat instead of insisting he knows better. It's a nice reminder of why he took to Kibum in the first place. 

"It's because he's an indoor cat," he explains as he holds the door open and Kibum squeezes past him. He tries to ignore the way his blood is rushing to his hand after Kibum grazes against it. 

"Ah, it's a treat," the other man says understandingly. 

"Exactly."

The sky above them is clear and the night air is only slightly cool as they walk together. Jinki wonders if he's supposed to be saying anything, glancing at Kibum every few steps, but the other man seems content to be walking in silence. The traffic passing by would drown out anything he has to say, anyway. 

It feels surreal, he admits to himself as they wait to cross the street. Kibum is adjusting the lapels of his jacket, pulling them up so he can squish down into his jacket for warmth. It's absurdly cute and only adds to the surreality. He, Lee Jinki, asked out Kibum, successfully, and then Kibum asked him out, also successfully. And now they're walking together so Jinki can prove his quality as a suitor with tea.

Aside from the vomiting, it was perfect. 

* * *

 

They make it to the cafe only a few minutes later, and Kibum looks around suspiciously as they enter, hoping Jinki doesn't spot it. 

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"I'm looking for your friend," he says, trying to sound innocuous. 

"Taemin? He doesn't work nights on Wednesdays," Jinki says. 

 "That's....too bad," Kibum says evenly, and Jinki's lip twitches up. 

"I'm sure he's disappointed he missed you too."

Kibum is delighted at the small teasing lilt in his voice - he settles into his chair, and pulls out his phone as Jinki heads to the counter. 

@ _minhoooooal:_ _i won't wait up_

He rolls his eyes, but doesn't respond, content to let Minho sit on the  **read** notice for the rest of the night. He sneaks a look at the counter and spots Jinki peeking around the corner. The other man waves awkwardly when Kibum makes eye contact, ducking away a half-second later. It's goofy as hell, but endearing, which seems to be Jinki's standard operating procedure and one that makes Kibum feel soft and affectionate. He thinks he could get used to that feeling.

When Jinki returns a few minutes later, it's with a mug clutched between his hands and a cautiously interested expression on his face as Kibum looks up from his phone. 

"Thanks," he says, reaching up for it. He breathes it in deep and looks up, surprised. "Mint?"

"Peppermint," Jinki says. "But we have lavender, or chamomile, or - "

He cuts himself off when Kibum brings it up his mouth and takes a grateful sip. 

"It's really good," he says. "Not a first choice for a lot of people, though. You took a risk."

"I don't think so," Jinki says. 

"No?" Kibum asks, curious, before he takes a deep sip. "Why not?"

"It's not for everyone, no, but - that just means the people who like it have an uncommon taste. There's ordinary flavors and then there's - the extraordinary," he says. "You seem like you fit the extraordinary."

He's not even sure if the compliment is on purpose at first, but he catches a glimpse of Jinki's smile as he sips at his own drink. Kibum is pleasantly surprised for the third time in less than an hour.

"I wanted to do something," Jinki says suddenly, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "To equal things out."

Kibum watches as Jinki pulls up Instagram and almost squirms when he goes to the post that nearly put a spike in everything. He sees him select Kibum's name and pull up his account. 

"Okay," he says, and then he goes on a spree, double-tapping so fast at Kibum's most recent posts that it takes him to the fourth one before Kibum thinks to ask. 

"What are you doing?"

"You were really embarrassed earlier," Jinki says. "About liking one photo. So I'm liking all your photos."

Kibum blinks. 

"You could just like one."

Jinki shakes his head seriously.

"No, because I'm only doing this after we're already out together. So now we have context and the same level of embarrassment wouldn't be there, right? It has to weigh out."

Kibum laughs disbelievingly, the scent of peppermint wafting up between the two of them as Jinki carefully double-taps a photo of Kibum's dogs. 

"You have a unique way of looking at things."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Jinki asks guardedly, pulling his hand back. 

Kibum shakes his head, reaching out to push the phone back underneath Jinki's finger with a smile. 

"Not at all."

* * *

It's a few Wednesdays after that when they reach a crux.  **  
**

"Are you sure about this?" Taemin yells from his bedroom. 

Jinki shushes him on his way to the door. 

"Hi," he says as he opens it. 

Kibum smiles back at him, a touch of nerves at the edge that helps Jinki feel slightly better about his own case of nerves. 

"This is Commes des," Kibum says as he walks in, holding up the leash leading to the darker of the two dogs. The lighter one is sniffing at Jinki's feet curiously. "And that's Garcon."

"Nice to meet you both," Jinki says politely as Kibum takes his shoes off. His anxiety manifests as he fiddles with the edge of his sleeves. 

Kibum grabs at his hand and Jinki takes a deep breath. 

"Where is he?"

He tilts his head towards the living room and they walk in, a strong grip onto the two leashes. 

Joyonghan is at his highest perch, staring down at the quartet suspiciously. 

There's the noise of footsteps behind him, and Jinki turns to find Taemin lurking in the hallway, his phone pulled out. Jinki mouths "NO" as emphatically as he can. 

"Do you want to get him down?" Kibum asks apprehensively. 

Jinki shrugs, slightly distracted by the buzzing in his pocket. Commes de and Garcon have noticed Joyonghan and are straining at the leashes. 

_@taeinthemirror: if this works ur going to want this footage_

_@onewyaong: please stop_

_@onewyaong: :( please_

Taemin pulls a face, but backs up marginally; Jinki just has to trust that he will do more, because he has to get back to Joyonghan. He takes a deep breath and goes to prostrate himself. 

"Joyonghan," he calls, stretching up. "It's okay. It won't be that bad."

Commes de lets out an excited bark, and Jinki winces. 

 _I promise they won't hurt you,_ he thinks towards him, hoping the sincerity will carry through the interspecies telepathy. 

Kibum moves up beside him, leaning his head on his shoulder. Jinki can feel his breath puffing out unevenly with anticipation. 

 _Just give them a chance_ ,he asks.

Joyonghan stands up and stretches, pacing the small length of his perch. 

"Do you want to try a different time?" Kibum says in a low voice against his ear. Jinki shivers it off. 

Joyonghan leans over the side to sniff at Jinki's dog-touching fingertips. 

"No," he says, determined. "This has to happen at some point."

 _For me_ , he thinks as locks eyes with the cat.

Joyonghan jumps into Jinki's arms, to a chorus of thrilled barking and Kibum's gasp of surprise. Jinki nuzzles his face into the soft fur of his back. 

 _Thank you_ , he thinks.

Joyonghan purrs against his chest.

* * *

Several Wednesdays after that, Jinki is gasping against Kibum's lips when the other man lets out a muffled noise of displeasure. 

"What?" he says, stopping immediately. "Is this okay?"

"It's fine," Kibum reassures him, his shoulders jumping up and down in laughter. "But we should probably close the door."

Jinki cranes his neck as best he can.

There's a line of furry bodies in the door, staring at the pair of them. 

He lets his head fall, and Kibum coos and pets his hair. 

"You wanted them to get along," he laughs as he kisses his cheek. 

"Not like this," he complains, groping along the bed for something to reach the door without giving up their position. "This is a terrible hobby to share."

Kibum gently pushes at him until he can see above Jinki's naked shoulder.

"Commes des, Garcon," he says commandingly, snapping his fingers and pointing. "Go."

The small  _pat-pat_ of feet tells Jinki it's a success. 

"Bossy," he compliments Kibum, smiling as he threads fingers through his hair. As he pulls, Kibum tilts his head back, allowing access to his neck, his Adam's apple trembling as Jinki noses at the curve. 

"Two-thirds bossy," the other man corrects. "There's just no persuading some."

Joyonghan meows in agreement. 

He groans, but Kibum just pulls the blanket up over the two of them. 

"Don't worry about it," he says, the warmth making sweat pop at his neck. Jinki's tongue darts out to taste.  

Kibum's orders are worth following, he thinks, hazy and love-drunk. 

"Yes, doctor."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! comments are adored.


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